Ryan Moore leans against his kitchen table, flicks a pensive glance out at a back garden covered in plastic toys and explains the recent shift in his priorities. Getting on good horses in big races, such as Workforce in Saturday's Eclipse at Sandown, is as important as ever but he is also keen to make time for his young family. The pursuit of his former title as champion jockey is by no means his focus, particularly because it involves chasing around second-tier tracks for poor prize money, which he is less and less prepared to do.

"The championship was my biggest goal when I started and I always thought it would be the main goal," he says. "I was probably more jumping minded when I started [his first ride was over hurdles] and, in jumping, that's the main thing."

Moore, now 27, has been odds-on to regain the title since he was top rider at Royal Ascot a fortnight ago, but he then took his wife, Michelle, and their two children on a five-day holiday to Majorca, hardly the action of a man intent on cutting back the lead established by the reigning champ, Paul Hanagan. "I wouldn't have done three years ago," he says, "but, since Toby's been born, I haven't done the workload that I would have done."

On Tuesday, his father, Gary, a trainer, wanted him to ride at Brighton. "Bad prize money, bad racing, I just decided not to go. I thought, 'stay at home with the kids'." Things have clearly moved on since 2005, when one trainer said Moore had to be put on suicide watch if he went three days without riding a winner.

"I'm lucky I can decide not to, right now, but it's disappointing in some respects. I'd rather be wanting to go racing to ride some decent horses but it just doesn't seem to be happening."

Moore is widely seen as the jockey who would be champion in a normal season. he has fallen short twice in the past five years, both times having missed chunks of time through injury. If he gets a clear run this time, most observers will be surprised if the title goes elsewhere.

It is not a prospect that concerns him, however. Of Hanagan, now four wins clear before last night's card at Beverley , he says: "Best of luck to him. He works very hard. There's a lot of lads that seem to want to give it a crack and they should do. They should be ambitious, want to do their own things. It just doesn't suit me at the moment, not with the way things are. I've got family and good horses to ride and they'd be the main two options at the minute."

He is not kidding about the good horses. Moore is the jockey most closely associated with four of the five runners in the Eclipse, the 16th race in the new Qipco British Champions Series. Sri Putra is the one he has never sat on.

Snow Fairy is unbeaten under Moore, winning Group Ones in four different countries. He has also been the first-choice jockey for So You Think, who brought such a huge reputation from Australia to Ireland this year.

That reputation took a knock when So You Think was pipped in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot, a reverse for which his trainer, Aidan O'Brien, took responsibility, saying the horse was "not fit enough". Moore was criticised by elements of the Australian media but it is difficult to see that he did anything wrong.

Simple diplomacy prevents him from discussing the merits and demerits of the pair he will ride against – he takes two steps backwards and waves his hands in front of his face when the subject is broached – though he says his knowledge of them "won't change anything".

"Snow Fairy's been great to me, brilliant at the end of last year. And the other horse, obviously they think the world of him in Australia. His last run was … well, they think he's better than that."

He reports Workforce "in good shape" since his first run of the year, when he reeled in Poet to win over Saturday's course and distance in May. "He always felt like he was just going to do enough [that day], so we were happy with him." The horse is expected to be fitter this time.

Moore is not impressed by recent fretting over the form of Sir Michael Stoute, his main employer and the trainer of Workforce. A three-week spell in which all their runners were beaten finally ended on Friday at Sandown but the jockey points out that many had run well in defeat. "It's not an issue for me and I don't think he's too worried. We've got some nice young horses. Hopefully, they'll come through and things'll get rolling a bit more."

But even if that happens, do not look for Moore to show up just anywhere in search of a winner. "I went to Kempton last night, riding round for £1,600, what's the point? Racing in this country is in such a bad state. Everyone keeps saying it's the best in the world and it isn't the best in Europe.

"They seem to be creating more and more bad racing and less of the quality and everything seems to be happening on a Saturday. Beforehand, you'd go to Newbury on a Wednesday or Salisbury, there'd be a midweek at Ascot maybe, so there was always some interest. Now, it just seems to be, wait 'til Saturday."

If the reward for midweek racing is less, the risk remains the same. Moore notes that any ride can result in injury or a riding suspension that may rule him out of a major raceday.

Henceforth, then, his pattern of work may be more like Frankie Dettori's than Hanagan's. "There's got to be more to life than Kempton on a Wednesday night."